Fuzzy Beauty Of Language In Lin Shu's Translation Of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Fuzziness is one of the basic characteristics of the language. People often employ many fuzzy words to convey their meanings and feelings, and this fuzzy phenomenon is getting more and more attention from people. Since the 1960s or 1970s fuzzy language has been booming and flourishing. Fuzziness is a natural attribute of literary language, especially the Chinese classical literary language, in which fuzzy beauty is completely displayed.Fuzzy beauty is a very young subject in the field of aesthetics which has not obtained many achievements. Foreign researches mainly focus on semantic aspect of fuzzy language, rather than on its aesthetic effect. Granet, a French sinologist, has a very profound study on fuzzy beauty and once evaluates Chinese like this:"The language used by Chinese is especially made for description, not for the purpose of classification. It is a language specially designed to express the special sensibilities, not for defining of judging."(毛荣贵,2005)Language fuzziness is the most basic difference between Chinese and western languages of indo-european family. As for the aesthetic nature of Chinese fuzziness, only a few sinologists publish some classical comments, however, these comments lack fundamental study. When discussing C-E classical literary translation, they often contribute the fuzzy beauty of Chinese to the translation techniques, but not the essential difference.Fuzzy beauty, which is flowing, active and changeable, has its unique aesthetic value. Translation is not only the transformation of the language, but also the transformation of the thoughts. It is a comprehensive display of the culture and the aesthetics. It makes the mood of literary works full of connotative beauty and wonderful nuance. It is clear but not transparent. Fuzzy beauty has three characteristics, i.e. indeterminacy, integrity and permeability. In the process of translating the application of fuzzy language can mobilize the aesthetic subject's positive activities. It can arouse reader's rich imagination and association by the enlightenment and suggestibility. The readers can understand and grasp the connotative meaning. This fuzziness, to a certain degree, is a type of blank, which can make up the disadvantages of translation, especially for those words that are hard to express directly, such as complex feelings and profound rules. The indeterminacy of works and the blank of meanings leave enough space for readers to think and imagine. The readers are expected to fill up the blank of meanings by fuzziness. Fuzzy beauty enlarges the artistic range and leaves unlimited space for readers to ramble. Gestalt Theory can be thought as the psychologic basis of fuzzy beauty. Fuzzy language builds a bridge for readers to fully employ imagination and aesthetic capability, which makes the translation show the best effect.It is more and more significant to study the value and the effect of fuzzy beauty in translation. Therefore, this thesis first deals with language fuzziness and its classification, and then elaborates the three characteristics of fuzzy beauty. Also the four types of transformation between fuzziness and precision are discussed. Under the multi-dimensional theoretical perspective including reception aesthetics and Gestalt psychological theory, fuzzy beauty is expounded profoundly.Uncle Tom's Cabin is written by the American woman writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel is about the mistreatment and sad fate that slaves encountered in the United States. It is translated by Lin Shu and Wei Yi. In this paper, the author analyses Uncle Tom's Cabin and Lin Shu's version and explores the application of fuzzy beauty in language and culture.There are four chapters altogether in the thesis. In the first chapter the author introduces the development of language fuzziness in general, the original novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and its translated versions. In the second chapter the classification of fuzzy language and the characteristics of fuzzy beauty in aesthetics of translation are explained. In the third chapter techniques to deal with fuzziness and precision in literary translation are explored. On the basis of the above theories, the author discusses the fuzzy beauty reflected in the aspects of language and culture in Lin Shu's version of Uncle Tom's Cabin in the last chapter.